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Thursday, February 27, 2003

Don't believe what you read in the papers. I was reading the hoo-har about whether Chicago should be passed uncut as an R(A) or NC-16, and in the end it was to be a PG-rated movie, with CUTS!

Damn

When asked what the cuts are and whether it will spoil the show, I recall this dude saying that the audience won't even realise the cuts

WRONG!!!!

Wonder if he actually saw the show after it was cut to PG. To cut out lyrics to songs in a musical is a SIN!

So what if the song was sung when a couple's making whoopie??

Damn, it totally spoils it :P and the cuts, like all other cuts in cinematic history, are all crudely done.

I could have done a better job (by leaving all scenes intact :P)

Anyway back to the movie, what can i say, it probably would stand a pretty good chance at the Oscars. Richard Gere's tap dance was cool, Renee Zellweger was sweet, though i thought at times she looked damn thin, Caterine Zeta Jones just steals the stage because she looks so big size now :P as compared to her curvier Entrapment days :D

This is the first of a series of Marvel comic heroes coming onto the silver screen this year, before Bryan Singer's X2 and Lee Ang's The Incredible Hulk (another Jennifer... Connelly,.... WHOA!)

To compare it to last year's Spider-man will not be fair, because Daredevil is essentially a dark character, and i'm glad they stuck to it.

There are complains that the movie is at times incoherent, but hey, it's based on a comic book! Sit back, relax and enjoy the show as if it's the first time u picked up a Daredevil comic and enjoying it for what it's worth.

Ben Affleck once mentioned that he won't don any tights unless it's a Daredevil movie, and guess what, he's right! He looks the part as the Man Without Fear, the strong jawline and all, and as blind lawyer Matt Murdock. Guess he made Daredevil his own.

Jennifer Gardner's Elektra looks as beautiful as she is lethal, but too bad, we're given little screentime where she is Elektra with her twin Sais. But nonetheless her initial meeting with Matt is really, really cool!

Kingpin, in case you didn't know, is not the white character he is in the comic books, but heck, doesn't bother me a bit.

And someone tell Bullseye to stock up on his ammo before he even attempts to take out Daredevil :P

All in all, the action is sometimes too fast and dark (hey, it's a dark movie :P), but the SFX for the devil's unique capability is really well done. The introductory background to the Daredevil lore and build up is excellent, though the ending i felt was a little too rushed. Fan boys will lap up all the cameos and name-mentioning of people like Kirby, Quesada, et al.

All in all, I suppose Marvel got it right this time with the movies. Awaiting X2 and Incredible Hulk to see if Marvel can do a hattrick with its movies this year.

Sunday, February 09, 2003

The minute the animated credits rolled in the beginning, I knew Speilberg hit the jackpot. It sets up everything nicely about the 60s films or films made about the 60s, with all the 2D animation and jazzy acommpanying music, which in itself will tell you the story in a nutshell

That alone was worth your admission ticket. Trust me.

Leo DiCaprio is Frank William Abagnale Jr, currently the best in the anti-fraud business. It takes a thief to nab a thief, so that pretty much sums up the trials, tribulations and the beginnings of a teenager whose life is being on the run from the law, while being an airplane co-pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer.

Playing a supporting role as the Fed agent after Frank is Tom Hanks, who plays this role as serious as he can get. When asked by colleagues to lighten up, he tells a joke that goes "Knock, Knock" "Who's There" "Go Fuck Yourself"

And who can discount the brilliant role of Frank Abagnale Sr, played by Christopher Walken? He da man! And yes, he certainly has tried hard to be the second mouse.

A particular scene that i liked featured the va-va-vroooooom Jennifer Garner (from TV's Alias, and as Electra in the upcoming Daredevil movie) as a high class call-girl, who prostitutes herself to Frank Jr for $1000. Frank my man, ever the conman, although he has smaller denominations of those fake cheques, produces one for $1400, and Jenny returned $400 cold cash to him. WOOOOOOOO! Nothing like getting laid and getting paid, lol!!

On a more serious note, this film highlights to you the concept of "Social Engineering". Don't know what it is? Type it in Google and scan through some of the fine articles written on this subject. You'll be surprised how easy it is to be Frank in real life as well.

Thursday, February 06, 2003

OK, I'll mention not of the bland storyline, not of the kung-fu action (Jackie Chan seems to be a tad slower these days don't you think?), not of the infamous ooh-la-la licking scene where a sultry Fann licks Owen.

This review will focus on the gags. Yup, you got me. The gags, without which, the film will never be the same:

1. The (mis)pronounciation of Chon Wang as John Wayne (ok, this is carried over from the first film) 2. How Roy creates Sherlock Holmes! 3. How the aspiring police inspector-writer happened to be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and how he got knighted! 4. How Roy unwittingly gave away his creation Sherlock Holmes to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (haha!) 5. Charlie Chaplin appears in the show! (yeah, he's the kid you see in the trailers!) Now you know where he got his inspiration from! 6. Wonder what happened to Jack the Ripper? Fann has the answer! 7. Automobiles are a weird invention, Roy? However, nothing much can be said of your investments in zeppelins :P 8. Moving pictures present a good investment opportunity

And yes, stay on after the film ends. The outtakes, as usual, are always hilarious.

What do you do to when your fans impatiently wait for the next 2 installments of your wildly successful movie?

You tell stories. Short stories. Make them animated. Explain the details of the mumbos and the jumbos, or what happened and will happen. Draw inspiration from the source of your movies.

So the Wachowski Brothers present, in anime (Japanese Animation), short animated stories, a total of 9 of them, showcasing the world of the Matrix as we know it, or do we?

The first installment of The Animatrix is out. Titled The 2nd Renaissance Part 1, it offers a glimpse as to the beginnings of the conflict between man and machine, and possibly give us a peek into how the Matrix was created.

Will not spoil the clip for you by recounting the 9 minute narrative, but some interesting points to take note and discuss:

1. The Zion Archives look like some kind of Zen-Buddha like inspired circuitry. Wonder if we will get to see this in the movie sequels 2. Area of conflict again is middle east, where 01 is formed by the machines and becomes an economic powerhouse. Middle East these days are too close for comfort. 3. There was one scene where a robot stood in front of a tank. Reminiscene of Tiananmen. 4. Violence. No doubt it's animated, but it's violent. Check out the scene where a woman's head gets smashed by a robot gone berserk, and another which looked like a rape scene, but turned out to be a destruction of a "female" robot in progress.

I sat a little uneasy watching the way the robot rebellion was crushed by the humans. Perhaps it's because i was watching these events unfold at hindsight, that these robots will one day stage a successful uprising and make Duracells out of humans :D And in a way, you kinda feel for the bots to teach us humans a lesson.

That having said, at times the short film looked like your usual humans vs others (robots, as in Terminator movies, or mutants, as in X-Men movies).

But let us not judge these series too soon, as the other episodes are yet to be released. There will be more gems revealed, that I'm sure.

Looking forward to Part 2 of Renaissance where we just might see the creation of The Matrix.

P.S. This review has only showed you the door, you have to walk through it yourself.

About Me

I'm a Singapore based film buff and a keen supporter of Singapore films good and bad. I've been writing about Singapore Cinema and Singapore film-related activities since 2005. I am also a contributing writer at movieXclusive.com, TwitchFilm.net, and Sinema.sg.